Maklelan - A romantic incentive

[_maklelan]

Oh please Mak. This thread is about you. If you want to start a thread about me, I'll gladly answer exactly the same amount of questions you answered on this thread.

So your full real name will be made available, as well as your place of employment and educational background? Really?

People just don't care all that much why I don't believe Thomas Monson is a prophet. If people want to know that I grew up in a strict LDS family and never tried drugs or alcohol, got caught looking at a playboy at 14, touched a girls boobs for the first time at 16, I'll gladly share all that with you. That has nothing to do with why a well educated man such as yourself, that is aware of the history of the church, can still hold firm to the truth claims of the church. People just have a hard time believing it. That's why it's so interesting.

Sharing my conversion story isn't going to change any of that.

It's not a mockery,

Maybe not for you, but it absolutely is for many others.

it's a general fascination because most of us on this board are well educated and if we would not have been born into the church, likely would never have joined. You my friend are an outlier. That is what makes you an interesting poster on this board which is why people are inquiring. Consider it a compliment.

What I don't appreciate is posters here telling me why I joined and what's keeping me from leaving the Church, and then getting snarky when I tell them they're wrong.

[_canpakes]

I've explained that I'm just not going to explain those things online, and I don't see why that information is critical to anything at all.

Mak -

Are you of the mindset that you would prefer to not answer questions like the ones posed in this thread because you are not interested in your answers potentially being misunderstood or misinterpreted by others who could affect your employment?

[_maklelan]

Mak -

Are you of the mindset that you would prefer to not answer questions like the ones posed in this thread because you are not interested in your answers potentially being misunderstood or misinterpreted by others who could affect your employment?

No, it's just personal information I don't feel comfortable sharing online. I have no doubt it would be misunderstood and misinterpreted, but I've come to expect that about pretty much everything I post here.

[_Everybody Wang Chung]

I have no doubt it would be misunderstood and misinterpreted, but I've come to expect that about pretty much everything I post here.

Mak, I know it's easier to blame everyone else, but have you considered the possibility you might be responsible for the confusion?

[_maklelan]

Mak, I know it's easier to blame everyone else, but have you considered the possibility you might be responsible for the confusion?

Yes, with every single post. And I have acknowledged when I have been at fault numerous, numerous times on this board. I have also apologized for poor behavior numerous, numerous times on this board. I don't think I've ever seen you even come close to anything like that. You've repeatedly shown yourself to be cheerfully petty, willingly dishonest, and unapologetically polemical, so save the pathetic attempts to assert some kind of moral high road over me.

Now that we've cleared that up, are you going to respond to any of my concerns with your arguments, or are you really just throwing more rhetoric against the wall in the hopes that something will stick?

[_Uther]

I have no doubt it would be misunderstood and misinterpreted, but I've come to expect that about pretty much everything I post here.

Mak, I know it's easier to blame everyone else, but have you considered the possibility you might be responsible for the confusion?

Holy crap Everybody Wang Chung!!

While I have repeatedly tried to give you the benefit of doubt, you still manage to register as a "fruit loop" in my FIFO.
I can understand that you are mad and bitter vs everything Mormon, but I have a hard time understanding your desire to be "mr.dick" to people that do what you do not:

- Share RL information, and talk openly in an intelligent way about their beliefs.

One thing is to disagree over religion, quite another thing is to harass an indentified real life person over petty details just for the apparent pleasure of provoking anger.

I would appeal to the other side of you Everybody Wang Chung, the one that produces more intelligent posts to prevail!

Kind regards
Uther

[_Chomsky]

There was an astrophysicist at a reception at Oxford that got into my face about why I thought someone who believed in God should be allowed to study at any university, but most just don't care. ...

Wow, was the astrophysicist being serious?! That is unbelievably silly on his/her part if they really think that theists shouldn't be admitted into a university.

[_Uther]

I've explained that I'm just not going to explain those things online, and I don't see why that information is critical to anything at all. I've already shared far more about my personal life than anyone else who has participated in this thread. I don't see how someone could honestly look at this thread and think I'm the one being the jerk.

Oh please Mak. This thread is about you. If you want to start a thread about me, I'll gladly answer exactly the same amount of questions you answered on this thread. People just don't care all that much why I don't believe Thomas Monson is a prophet. If people want to know that I grew up in a strict LDS family and never tried drugs or alcohol, got caught looking at a playboy at 14, touched a girls boobs for the first time at 16, I'll gladly share all that with you. That has nothing to do with why a well educated man such as yourself, that is aware of the history of the church, can still hold firm to the truth claims of the church. People just have a hard time believing it. That's why it's so interesting.

It's not a mockery, it's a general fascination because most of us on this board are well educated and if we would not have been born into the church, likely would never have joined. You my friend are an outlier. That is what makes you an interesting poster on this board which is why people are inquiring. Consider it a compliment.

While I can understand your fascination with trying to understand the mindset of someone who knows the LDS problems and still believes, my impression from your earlier questions and charades in this thread is that you behave mostly like a provokative dick towards Makelan.

Why not give him some slack as he is online with his real name and sharing some of his thoughts on his faith?

Kind regards
Uther

[_maklelan]

Wow, was the astrophysicist being serious?! That is unbelievably silly on his/her part if they really think that theists shouldn't be admitted into a university.

The more dogmatic among the anti-religionists commonly insist that believing in God unilaterally indicts an individual's judgment and makes them untrustworthy. I've seen it here in similar iterations many times, even from Christians who just move the threshold forward to uniquely Latter-day Saint beliefs.

[_Uther]

Wow, was the astrophysicist being serious?! That is unbelievably silly on his/her part if they really think that theists shouldn't be admitted into a university.

The more dogmatic among the anti-religionists commonly insist that believing in God unilaterally indicts an individual's judgment and makes them untrustworthy. I've seen it here in similar iterations many times, even from Christians who just move the threshold forward to uniquely Latter-day Saint beliefs.

I believe that this is a matter of human psychology. Dogmatic people behave similarily within and without a faith.

Belief in God is a rather relative matter in my opinion.
The astrophysicist should know dealing in absolutes is a dangerous realm.

While I can understand the scepticism vs apparent man made-religion, having some knowledge of science fills me with awe over the innumerable small intricaties of nature and physics that allows for life. I don't find any traces or evidence supporting the Judeo-Christian take on God, but I can observe that both humans and ants appear to exist. One is relatively a God to the other, and thus the atheist should be open to the relative worldview that allows for beings far supreme to us to exist in parallell with us.

Putting a white robe on that relative potentially supreme being and calling him father is in my mind a stretch.

Kind regards
Uther